Research On The Validity Of Double Contracts For Construction Project

Recently, the number of the disputes on construction project contracts has been rising with various types of cases emerging, among which double contracts accounted for a large proportion and have gradually attracted people’s attention. Double contracts are abnormal trading phenomenon existing in the current construction project field which can seriously disturb the normal market order. Lots of problems exist in the judicial practice of double contracts judged by the courts in China due to the imperfect of the relevant laws and regulations, which sometimes even leads to different judgments in similar cases. The identification of the validity of double contracts not only closely related to the interests of the litigant, but also related to the stability and the unity of the legal applicability in our country. Therefore it is necessary to seek a reasonable standard for the identification of the validity of double contracts based on the correctly understanding of double contracts.This paper studies the validity of double contracts deeply in four parts. Firstly, it describes the concept, characteristics and types of double contracts which is expanded by a case. Secondly, the history of double contracts and the existing system on the identification of validity of contract for construction project in our country are combing. Thirdly, the current judicial status of the disputes on double contracts is organized through cases studies and researches, among which the reasons that the courts generated disagreements on the validity of double contracts are analyzed. In the end, double contracts and legal engineering changes are compared and distinguished. Only substantive changes to substantive content may constitutes double contracts. The false contract is not necessarily invalid according to Article 46 of Law of the People’s Republic of China on Tenders and Bids. The identification of the validity of double contracts should start from the basic principle of Contract Law, considering both the establishment elements and effective elements and then identify the validity of double contracts respectively. The conclusion is that the false contract is not the real meaning of the two parties, based on the false intention of the civil law so it is invalid in principle under the premise of not to bona fide third party. On the contrary, the true contract is the real meaning of both parties and should be judged valid if the contract is not under legal denying in effect.